KATHMANDU: Dipesh Dhami and Anup Gurung advanced to the pre-quarterfinals in the boys’ doubles at the Badminton Asia Youth U-16 Championships in Colombo today.

Dipesh and Anup teamed-up to beat Maldivian opponent in straight sets 21-8, 21-9. Nepal’s other doubles team Bilal Warsi and Irfan Ansari, however, crashed out from the first round.

The winning pair will now meet Sri Lankan pair, who had a first round bye, for a place in the quarter-finals. “We are extremely delighted to have registered out first win here,” said the players. “We are now setting our eyes for an upset,” said the Nepali shuttlers after the match.

The other Nepali doubles team of Bilal and Irfan also played a brilliant game before surrendering 22-20, 26-24. They threw away the match after leading 20-18 in both the sets. “Luck deserted us,” was all the shuttlers had to say.

“We were hoping to win both the doubles match,” said Nepali coach Megh Raj Kathayat. “They (Bilal and Irfan) were close to victory but gave away the match due to their own mistakes,” added Kathayat.

Nepal’s team manager Anoj Basnet was disappointed that only one team was able to win today.